Booker suffered an injury
The Pelicans were able to make it to the playoffs, which is already a miracle for many fans. But even so, no one is optimistic about them, because in the first round of the playoffs, the Pelicans have to face the Phoenix Suns, the team with the first regular season record in the league. In the first game of the series, the Pelicans launched a counterattack in the final quarter, forcing out the strongest Chris Paul, and this game, that is, the second game of the series, the two teams met again, and the Pelicans forced the strongest Devon Booker.
Booker played another masterpiece of his career, but who would have thought that in the fourth quarter of the game, Suns coach Monty said in an interview that Booker may have suffered a hamstring injury and will not play in this game. The Suns then officially announced that Booker's right hamstring was tight and that the game would not return.
Halftime blasted 31 points
It can be said that this should have been Devon Booker's personal show, the first quarter of the game, Booker on 10 shots 6, three-point 6 shots 4, got 16 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, did not have a free throw, did not have a basket to score, no solution to the personal jump shot, led the Suns to 28 points, it can be said that with their own strength, carrying the team forward. However, Ingram and McCollum worked hard, and the two combined to score 18 points, and the Pelicans took a two-point lead. After returning from the second quarter, the Pelicans had the momentum to open up the point gap again.
At the crucial moment, it was Devin Booker, who shot 5 of 8, 3 of 4 from three-point range, took 15 points and 1 rebound, and included a three-pointer from the ultra-long whistle. Led by Booker, the Suns continued to maintain a five-point lead at the end of halftime. In the second half, Booker only had 1 shot, no points, no rebounds and assists, which made the on-site commentary feel strange, until monty revealed the injury news in the interview in the fourth quarter, people understood that Booker was injured.
Without Booker's Suns, they scored just 22 points in a single quarter, while the Pelicans blasted down 34 points to take a seven-point lead. Without Booker, the Suns want to win the game, and the only thing they can look forward to is that Chris Paul can continue the magical performance of the last last last quarter.
Magical Record Night
This is the second time in Booker's career that he has hit 30+ at halftime and hit at least seven three-pointers, the first in history, and the last time was the sixth game against the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs last season. It is worth mentioning that in this game, Booker scored 31 points at halftime without a single free throw, and is still the first player in NBA history to do so, and Clay once scored 29 points at halftime. It was supposed to be Booker's night, but injuries came to the door.
In a situation like this, the only thing the Suns can do is win the game as much as possible, then expect Booker to be injured and give him more rest. As of press time, the Pelicans are 120-113 ahead of the Suns by seven points, with only 1 minute and 42 seconds left in the game. I have to say that Paul's luck was so bad that the only hope was that it was just a false alarm.